I got a response today from my letter of validation to a collection agency and their letter said they want me to send them either a" drivers license copy/ss card or identification card" and if i dont "they cannot resolve this matter and if I fail to respond within 15 days they will close the investigation due to MY failure to provide the necessary information." Can you believe this? I am asking them to prove this is my account and that it belongs to me BUT they want me to prove who I am? What is my next move, I was thinking estoppel letter but that is more for a CA who didnt respond at all? Any ideas? thanks
You remind them that under FDCPA they are prohibited from taking any collection action until they validate, and you will immediately sue them if they try. Furthermore, upon validation request, FDCPA places the burden of proof on them, not uyou. They knew enough about you to contact you about the debt and probably enough about you to screw up your credit, let them prove it's your debt. Some CA's use these requests as a way of transferring the burden back to the debtor and as a way of circumventing their obligations under law. There is a collection agency trade froup whosed web site you may want to visit: www.collectionindustry.com They have a message board like this and some of the CA posts state that they use this as a way, in court, of saying "your honor, we asked for more info, but the other side wouldn't provide it". Some sue immeditely upon receipt of this info. Don't forget to countersue for the FDCPA violations.
I just got this same letter and this was my response: "To Whom It May Concern: While I appreciate your timely response to my request for validation in your letter dated xxx, I am unclear as to how having my signature on hand will aid in your ability to address my validation request. I included a photocopy of my Driverâ??s License in my original request for validation, dated xxx, and I am confident that the legibility of this document is adequate for your purposes. Additionally, after re-reading the FDCPA, I can find nothing regarding a signature, social security card, etc. as a requirement of the FDCPA for requests for validation. etc. etc." I then reaffirmed that I was questioning the validity of the debt and that I was persisting in my original request (dated xxx) for validation of all tradeline notations etc. etc. I didn't want to ignore the letter, because I have also read the postings on the collection boards and didn't want them to have the arguement that I never responded. Hope this helps.
thanks for the fast replies, Merlin and Flyingifr very good advice. Merlin, did you get a response to your last letter? Yes, I also read about not responding that it gives these CA's the opportunity to say "you never responded etc....' Flyingifr, did you ever send a letter to CA with this situation? If so, what happened? Thanks.. I am checking out that website you recommended too
Re: Re: Proof from Me??? Sorry to say, I've never actually had this situation, since my only run ins with CA's ended like this: CA for QWEST - This was a disputed bill from the day I got it from Qwest, and I notified the CA that the bill was disputed and if they chose to step into the middle of this hornet's nest I will be glad to drag THEM into Court along with Qwest. Cease-Communications immediately - sue me or drop it. They dropped it. Never showed on my Credit File. CA for Exxon - They were a junk debt buyer who bought the account after it had been discharged in bankruptcy. Thank you for taking the collection effort of posting in my credit file a debt I never owed you. Pay me $1000 FDCPA/FCRA damages. They did. CA for Associates Finance - Same as Exxon, same result.
Why did you start another thread on this issue? Are you trying to make it harder to follow the situation? More than one thread leads to confusion and poorer advice .
Re: Re: Proof from Me??? Sure hope you corrected your grammar before mailing it out ... "... Additionally, after re-reading the FDCPA, I can find NOTHING regarding a signature ..." You can't mix past tense ("after re-READing") with present tense ("I CAN FIND nothing") ... Should have been " ... after re-reading the FDCPA, I FOUND nothing regarding ..."
Re: Re: Proof from Me??? Oops! Good catch. Hopefully my mixing of tenses will not be cause for them to reject my request for validation.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Proof from Me??? Yer Right:lllllllll They couldn't be English Teachers because they don't understand English
Re: Re: Re: Re: Proof from Me??? Yeah, but they'll kick it back for grammar errors. "Please send a copy of your English SAT scores so we can allow you to submit written requests."
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Proof from Me??? Seriously -- the reason I bring it up is the fact that a CA may or may not take you seriously if they read a letter full of grammatical and/or spelling errors. I'm not saying that THIS letter was awful. Just that, if there are enough errors, they could blow you off as some idiot who found a 'form letter' on an internet BBS somewhere.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Proof from Me??? I actually do appreciate the reminder to proof my work. In fact, I re-read the letter to be sure that there weren't any other errors. I agree that a letter written in as professional a manner as possible will be beneficial. Interestingly, I did run my letter through the grammatical check in Word and it did not pick up any errors.
Re: Re: Proof from Me??? I was thinking estoppel letter but that is more for a CA who didnt respond at all? fixinitup ================ No it is not:I just went through explaining all that in another thread a while back. The estoppel is for when you don't receive proper validation.Has nothing to do with responding or not responding.
Re: Re: Proof from Me??? I wonder, if this would not be a violation of some sort of deceptive business pratices law. I'd assume that the first letter with the mini-miranda and the you have 30 days blah blah, etc made NO mention that we will routinely ask for a signature and other indentifying info. In other words, they had no intention of honoring a validation request. I'd imagine discovery would be rather interesting. How many times do they repond in this manner and let's see the files? I gotta feeling with a good lawyer you could likely scratch one collection agency. For damn sure, send a complaint to the FTC.
